Steinbeck Has It
This week I managed to finish two books, one of them so captivating that I was unable to put it down. I read when walking to and from the bus stop. I read on the bus. I snuck a few pages in at work. During a recent meeting at the Metropolitan Water District, I spent the catered luncheon off in a corner, completely engrossed.
Though Franny & Zooey was brilliant in its own right, I owe apologies to Salinger for it was Steinbeck's East of Eden from which I couldn't release my grip. Ostensibly a modern retelling of Genesis (both the Fall of Adam and Eve and the story of Cain and Abel), East of Eden is also a book about the Salinas Valley, a part of California that has grown near-and-dear to me not only through living in the area, but through Steinbeck's phenomenal writing. The book is an exercise in grand storytelling, moving through generation after generation almost imperceptibly, as a river softens a stone. East of Eden is more than a great story. With this book, Steinbeck does the impossible, capturing the vast bulk of human emotion in his characters, and imparting a generous amount of wisdom along the way.
Note: I've turned comments back on, hopefully we won't get anymore major spamming.
brett at 11:59 AM on July 25, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)